Portland park rangers fired upon damaging vehicle
Portland OR Sept 17 2021 A park ranger pickup was one of the two vehicles struck by gunfire Monday night in Southeast Portland.
Two Portland Parks & Recreation rangers were traveling between parks on Southeast 72nd Avenue when the rear side panel of their city truck was hit by gunshots, according to Tim Collier, a Parks & Recreation bureau spokesman.
The shooting occurred about 9:20 p.m.
The two park rangers were not hurt and called 911, Collier said.
Police found 26 bullet casings at the scene near 72nd Avenue and Woodstock Boulevard. A bullet also flew through the windshield of another passing car, narrowly missing the driver, Portland police said.
The Monday night shooting followed a burst of more than 130 gunshots fired along residential Northeast 95th Avenue, just north of Prescott Street, that struck four apartments and five cars early Sunday morning, and was followed by another shooting later Monday night, just before 11 p.m. in the 6700 block of Northeast Emerson Street.
Earlier this year, the City Council voted to funnel about $1.4 million to the Parks & Recreation Bureau to hire 24 additional unarmed rangers to patrol city parks and surrounding neighborhoods and declined to provide any additional funding to the Police Bureau to recreate a uniformed police team to work to curb the gun violence. The Police Bureau got the go-ahead earlier this year to create a specialized Focused Intervention Team to target the ongoing gun violence, but the bureau still has not selected officers to fill it.
Police have recorded 873 shootings so far this year. That’s compared to 488 shootings through the end of August 2020. So far, 64 people have been killed in homicides in Portland, and the city is on pace to break its annual record of 70 killings in 1987.
In a statement issued just before 11 p.m. Monday, hours after her office was contacted for comment, City Commissioner Carmen Rubio, who oversees the Parks & Recreation Bureau, said she was grateful no one was hurt but is “deeply concerned” that city employees were impacted by the gunfire.
Here’s the rest of Rubio’s statement: “I continue to believe that public health must be the core of our community safety system and our response to gun violence. That is why I supported investing in community-based organizations working to change the conditions that foster violence and de-escalate situations where gun violence may arise. That’s why I supported, and continue to support and advocate for, expanding Portland Street Response. I also continue to request more information from PPB about the bureau’s staffing and resource needs so that, as an elected representative, I can ensure we’re making smart, effective investments to keep communities safe.
